The Scene at Eight19: Pre-holiday photos and post, post-holiday

Yawn. Christmas is over and we're exhausted! It was very nice, but after all the hustle and bustle, I feel behind on life and can't seem to get caught up! I started this post at the beginning of the month, but like with many things lately, it sat unfinished until I could find some spare time. Spare time, what the heck is that? Allocated time is more like it. If the time was spare, I'd be napping along with my girls right now!

At one (20 months) and two (33 months), Viviana and Mirabella are happy, goofy, angelic, funny, wild, affectionate, giggly, independent and sweet...and sometimes everything opposite of each of those adjectives!

With each day, we never know what we are going to get. There are good days and bad days. The bad days are relative, but a few weeks ago these two were giving me a run for my money daily. For about a week. I shut (locked) myself in my bathroom more than a couple times to regroup for a few minutes. There were days of constant fighting, tantrums and screaming. They were testing each other as much as they were testing me. I am beyond happy that little phase of continuous (can I say terrorizing? No? OK.) madness passed and I am considering myself a sane mama again. This week, anyway! Mostly though, these girls could not be any more lovely. They share with each other, take nice turns, kiss and hug each other, do nice things for the other and try very hard to please each other. But, they are toddlers and toddlers are by all definitions, insane! And at times, terrible. I say that in the nicest way possible.

Mirabella has mastered potty training and has done so wonderfully, really since the day she started back in early October. She was wearing underwear out not long after she began the process and for quite a while has only worn Pull-Ups (actually Easy Ups if I am being accurate) for nap and bed times. Many times they are dry when she wakes up! She has yet to go #2 in them since she started potty training either, which is also pretty great, and hopefully she'll continue that roll. We never depend on her Dora toilet ring insert anymore (mostly because at first I'd forget it in the car, and now I just leave it at home!); Mirabella is great at plopping down on any toilet, she just needs to be held up to keep from falling in. What a gross thought! She loves wearing undies and obliged me in taking a photo of the first real pair she ever wore: purple (her favorite color) with butterflies and guitars on them.

Our friend Matt had been luring Mirabella into potty training well before she stared with the promise of a special Dairy Queen treat. On Monday, October 24th, the wait was over and Matt and Mary scooped up Mirabella for a scoop of her own! Or in Mirabella's case, a StarKiss was her preference. She loved every second of that trip, and the lead up to it. Thank you, Matt!

While we're on the subject of the Smiths, one of Mirabella's BFF's had a recent birthday, and Mirabella couldn't wait for Mary to come over to open her presents! She was getting too sleepy as she waited for Mary to stop by after being out for dinner, so we put her to bed, but couldn't resist waking her up 15 minutes later when she arrived. Mirabella was half asleep in that short time, but quickly grabbed a second wind and was full of excitement!

Mirabella's vocabulary grows every day and the things she comes up with amaze us and make us laugh. As well as she speaks, I just love hanging onto the things she says incorrectly that I do not want to correct, but should. Opameal (instead of oatmeal, once uponta time (when she begins to "read" a story) and don't let the bug beds bite (as we tuck her into bed) are a few of my favorites.

Ever the big sister, Mirabella likes to point out all the things she can do, but that Viviana can't. "When Vivi turns two, she can have (insert whatever Mirabella thinks Viviana is to young for)." She doesn't do it with malice, she simply likes to remind us how big she is and that Vivi is a baby, according to her. She will make an excellent mother someday and very much enjoys taking care of Viviana like she is one of her most prized baby dolls. It is something the two of them reciprocate. If Vivi cries (if it is for a reason that Mirabella did not cause!), Mirabella will quickly bring her a toy to calm her. If it's Mirabella that's crying, Viviana will rub her head or arm to comfort her.

First curls in her hair, just for fun.

Viviana is equally as sweet as naughtly lately. When she is good, she is the best and when she is not good, she is very, very naughty. Her extrememly bad habit is hitting and in the past several weeks, she has been doing it way too much. Mirabella started in on the temper tantrums at 19 months and it's pretty much right on track again with Vivi. Her flailing, out of control body, screaming on the floor seems so much tinier than Mirabella's did. I'm not ready for this, but the unruliness has begun. Although the phrases she says the most are, "Sorry, Mommy," (for very good reason usually!) and "Thank you, Mama," (she says thank you all the time, most times followed by whoever's name she wishes to thank, which we adore!) and she is so darn cute and lovable when she is being her true self. The hugs and kisses she gives are given often, and they are such precious moments we savour. Vivi is especially good at manners and please is one of her most used word.

One of Vivi's favorite things to do is sing. Happy Birthday has been her very favorite, I'd say for a couple of months, and she sings it perfectly! She is getting darn good at her ABCs and tries to sing along with just about any song she can. I am often surprised at how many words she knows to particular songs, and that she can even get the tune correct.

Viviana also loves to dance, jump (about a month or so ago her feet finally left the ground), talk (gab and blab), count (1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10...this is a test, did you pass? Vivi almost always skips the 4 and cheers when she gets to 10 because that's what we do), scream (in excitement), smooch, hug with the widest arms to start and the tightest grib to finish, get herself dressed (partially, anyway!), put on her sister's underwear, be independent ("Nooo, Vivi do it!"), eat (six teeth on top and now six on the bottom really help with that), and antagonize! When she is not being her cute little self, she quite fancies taunting her sister and doing the opposite of whatever it is we are saying no to. "Don't climb on there, Vivi." She climbs faster. And higher.

Here Vivi is standing on the table. Nothing like taking a photo to discourage the behavior!

Mirabella was wearing bows of some sort since she was a baby, but with the exception of a forced photo opportunity or two, it took Viviana about 19 months to get one in! It was a sneak attack and she hasn't kept one in since!

Viviana's morning nap has retired and I think the process of dropping that is partially to blame for why things were so off around her a few weeks ago. Now that she is more used to a one nap routine, things have calmed. Now there is more time during the day to play!

On any given day, our house will be a mess of stickers. It is not uncommon to find stickers on our socks before we turn in for the night, not to mention in both girls' hair. Viviana is usually the willing victim of the sticker attacks by her sister.

(Notice the sticker on her arm, below)

We have been keeping a routine of storytimes at one of the two closest library branches to our house or Toddler Tuesdays at the Mall of America on Tuesdays mornings (and some Fridays in Eden Prairie), but here the girls sport their PJs for a special Thursday (Thursday, November 17th) pajama storytime at the Savage library. Books are read, sometimes songs are sung, and it always concludes with cookies and milk, Mirabella's and Viviana's favorite part.

11.11.11 seemed like a lucky day, so we had a playdate at our house! Maddie, Nora, Josie, Jack, Henry and Parker, along with their mamas, joined us for a day full of fun.